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The Slocum Research & Education Foundation will host a concussion conference this fall on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 8:00 a.m. The focus of the event will be on sport-related concussion care for youth. The conference for primary care providers, therapists, athletic trainers, allied health professionals, coaches, educators and school counselors aims to prevent long-term complications after concussions by providing timely evaluations and symptom monitoring.

The fall conference will include the co-directors of the Slocum Sports Concussion program as keynote speakers: Michael C. Koester, MD, pediatric sports medicine specialist, and Ryann Watson-Stites, PhD, pediatric neuropsychologist. This event will also officially introduce the new regional Concussion Management Team members and speakers from the University of Oregon’s Center on Brain Injury Research & Training and Brain Injury and Concussion Clinic, local Pediatric Neurologist Jeffrey Frank, MD, Clinical Psychologist Karyn Angell, PhD of Strong Integrated Behavioral Health, and cervicovestibular rehabilitation expert Kenji Carp, PT, ATC.

The Concussion Management Team members, who are the field’s leading experts, have organized this event to address the urgent need for comprehensive, coordinated, team-based concussion care as fall sports, such as soccer and football, bring about increased concussion risks in youth sports.

“With concussion diagnoses up more than 70% over the last few years in children ages 10 through 19, now is the perfect time to arm physicians, athletic trainers, and school personnel with the latest tools for identifying and managing concussions,” shares Dr. Koester. “We have to organize as a community to rapidly assess, refer when appropriate, and provide aggressive early management to prevent prolonged symptoms and disability.”